2017 and the Great American Eclipse

On the morning of Monday August 21, 2017 a total solar eclipse will cross North America. Only those along the path of totality will experience the sun being totally blocked by the moon and the sky going black. All others from Canada through the US and Mexico, and on down to Central America will experience a partial eclipse. Here in Bozeman it will be approximately 95% coverage. If you plan to go south into Wyoming or Idaho, you could experience totality. If you plan on staying here in Bozeman, be sure you have proper equipment to observe the eclipse. For a better view click on the image:

White House Astronomy Night: A Celebration of Science, Technology, and Space

Join the Southwest Montana Astronomical Society as we celebrate the White House Astronomy Night. Astronomy clubs around the nation will be heading to the lawn with telescopes to view the night sky. We will be at the Bozeman Public Library front lawn Monday October 19, 2015 starting at 6:30 p.m. Starting off with a short talk “What’s up in our night sky”, followed by viewing through telescopes.

To find out more about the White House Astronomy Night check out this link.

The Bozeman Public Library is located at 626 East Main Street, Bozeman.

May SMAS meeting

NOTE: New time, one hour earlier. Our May SMAS club meeting will take place on Friday May 30th, 6:00 pm in the Redstart room, downstairs at the Museum of the Rockies.

With nice weather, it’s time to take out your telescope and start using it. We will learn how to collimate a Newtonian dob type and a Schmidt Cassegrain type of telescope. Having a properly collimated telescope enhances your viewing. We will have club members demonstrate how to collimate a telescope and what tools to use. Take out the eye piece from your telescope and look into your telescope, see diagram to the left… hopefully it doesn’t look like view A or B above. If it does, don’t worry, that is what we’ll help you to fix. A properly collimated telescope should look like view C. Bring your telescope and you can work along side as you listen to our members show you how to get the best out of your telescope. We will be inside as we do this class. Weather permitting we may go and try out our properly aligned telescopes. Come prepared in case we do. Class from 6-8, sun set at 9:05 pm.

Save the dates

There are some events that are coming up that we wanted to let you know about.

April 5 – Astronomy Day at the Museum of the Rockies 12-4pm

April 14-15 – Total Lunar Eclipse – no local event planned, but be sure to get out and observe.

April 25 – Next SMAS meeting at the Museum of the Rockies, 7pm

June 22 – the First International SUN-day, at the Bozeman Public Library 3-5pm

June 27-28 – Stars Over Yellowstone June weekend at Madison Amphitheater, with Jim Manning

July 25-26 – Stars Over Yellowstone July weekend at Madison Amphitheater, with Mike Murray

August 21-24 – Montana Starwatch: go to http://montanastarwatch.org/ for more information

2014 Astronomy Day: April 5th

Astronomy Day at the Museum of the Rockies. View the flyer for more information astronomydayflyer or see the post below.

March: National Women’s History Month 2014

The theme for National Women’s History Month this year is: Celebrating Women of Character, Courage and Commitment. NASA is spotlighting women in STEM careers and has asked local clubs to highlight this locally.

Several events are planned in and around Bozeman. The bookclub selection and children’s storytime for the Bozeman Public Library this month have been chosen with this theme in mind. A talk from SMAS will be given at ParkHaven on Tuesday March 11th. The library’s Family Science night on Tuesday March 18th is being put on by the Bozeman High School Astronomy Club with several of the girls from the club conducting the activities. On Friday March 28th, SMAS is having Dr. Sarah Jaeggli give an update on the IRIS mission for the winter lecture series to close out the month of activities.

Telescope Class

Do you own a telescope that has turned into an expensive coat rack? Did you lose your instructions and forgot how to set it up? Well dust off that scope and bring it over to the Museum of the Rockies (come even if you don’t own a telescope but intend to purchase one) on Saturday May 28th between 1:00 and 3:00 and meet some of the SMAS telescope experts. We can help you get it set up, show you how to align it and collimate it if necessary. Then we’ll show you how to use it to find some objects in the night sky. Free with admission to the Museum of the Rockies.

Stars over Bozeman star parties planned

The Southwest Montana Astronomical Society (SMAS) is pleased to announce:

“Stars over Bozeman”

Friday, June 11th , back up date in case of cloud cover June 12th

Friday, July 16th, back up date in case of cloud cover July 17th

Friday, August 13th, back up date in case of cloud cover August 14th

Setup at 9 pm with viewing by 10:00 pm; with better viewing after 11:00 pm. These events will be held at the 100 Acre Gallatin Regional Park located on Oak St 1.2 miles west of North 19th Street in Bozeman.

As a group of amateur astronomers we wish to share our telescopes and knowledge of the night skies to all who wish to attend this free after dark event. Club telescopes to be used range in size from small traditional 3 inch telescopes to our Pasley Dobsonian which has a 20 inch diameter lens mirror and is close to 8 feet tall, when pointing straight up. This requires the use of a ladder to look into the eyepiece for most people. We are excited to use the Pasley this summer following a refurbishing project that included having the mirror refinished.

Bring your own telescope if you wish and members of SMAS will help you to use it.